Things to do with 5 volts

So it looks like a standard PC switching power supply is the cheapest way to power this project I'm working on, replacing the power strip worth of wall warts I've been using for prototyping. The 12v side will run the regulators for the various controller cards, and we can use the 5v side to run the stepper motors. But we don't want to apply holding torque to the steppers when we aren't actively using them because the user should be able to rotate the system by hand. So we need a minimum current draw to keep the switching power supply from eating itself. Anyone got any imaginative ideas for wasting 2 amps at 5 volts?

The quick-and-dirty way is Ohm's Law, E = I * R, so a 2.5 ohm resistor would draw 2 amps at 5 volts, dissipating 10 watts in the process. Use a 20 watt resistor to be safe. There are fancier ways that would only draw current if needed, but they involve transistors and a little circuit design.

The quick-and-dirty way is Ohm's Law, E = I * R, so a 2.5 ohm resistor would draw 2 amps at 5 volts, dissipating 10 watts in the process. Use a 20 watt resistor to be safe. There are fancier ways that would only draw current if needed, but they involve transistors and a little circuit design.

The quick-and-dirty way is Ohm's Law, E = I * R, so a 2.5 ohm resistor would draw 2 amps at 5 volts, dissipating 10 watts in the process. Use a 20 watt resistor to be safe. There are fancier ways that would only draw current if needed, but they involve transistors and a little circuit design.

Old ones have +5, -5, +12 and -12. P4 and Athlon power supplies add +3.5. The 12v is used for fans, hard drives and that sort of thing. The weird bit is the minimum power draw, those of us who grew up on transformers and diodes with a couple of capacitors to even things out don't get that.

Blinkenlights and extra fans was exactly the direction I was thinking of, although I don't want to do it with LEDs 'cause you've gotta line up a boatload of 'em to suck down 2 amps. I like the mannequin warming idea, might have to follow up on that.